Community shaken after brutal killings

Friends of a Lockport woman and her children who were murdered in November expressed relief Wednesday that a Terrebonne Parish convict was charged in the killings.

Katie UrbaszewskiStaff Writer

Friends of a Lockport woman and her children who were murdered in November expressed relief Wednesday that a Terrebonne Parish convict was charged in the killings.“Our prayers have been answered. Now our last prayer is that he gets the maximum sentence,” said the family's neighbor, Leroy Hebert, 48, who added he and others were concerned investigators hadn't yet charged the man because they didn't have enough evidence.David H. Brown, 35, who the Sheriff's Office has named as a suspect for months, is accused of invading the home and stabbing to death Jacquelin Nieves, 29, Gabriela, 7, and Izabela, 20 months, while the father slept downstairs. He raped two of the females and set their apartment on fire, investigators said. If Brown is convicted of any of the first-degree murder or aggravated rape charges against him, he will be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Those convicted of first-degree murder can also be sentenced to the death penalty, which Lafourche Sheriff Craig Webre supports.District Attorney Cam Morvant II said his office will not decide whether to pursue that penalty until after Brown's case is presented next week to the grand jury. He said he has not yet discussed such an option with the Nieves family or the Sheriff's Office.The last death penalty case Morvant worked on was Amy Hebert's, a Mathews woman convicted in 2009 of murdering her two children, he said.A trial involving the death penalty is “a more extensive process” than a trial involving a life sentence, Morvant said. Brown would have to be represented by certain lawyers, there would be more court hearings and picking a jury takes longer, for example.The Sheriff's Office did not charge Brown until more than two months after the killings because it was awaiting test results to reveal if any of the victims were raped. Officials declined to say who Brown is accused of raping.Investigators did not have to worry about Brown making bail because stipulations of his probation for a past theft didn't allow him to leave jail if arrested, Webre said.Brown, who has an extensive and violent criminal history, is in the Lafourche Parish jail where he has been since deputies arrested him Nov. 5 after he confessed to breaking into Hebert's apartment, which is adjacent to the victims' home. Hebert said he is one of the few neighbors who has not moved out of the apartment complex since they awoke to the news, horrified and in disbelief.Nieves was a former nurse who took a job with shorter hours at the Walmart bakery so she could take care of her children, said Hebert, who grew up with her.The apartment complex is “not home without them,” he said. The husband and father, Carlos Nieves Jr., no longer lives there, either.“He couldn't stay in there,” Hebert said, his eyes downcast.Catholic prayer candles are placed at the door of their former apartment.After Hebert's family kicked Brown out when his intrusion woke them up, authorities woke them up a couple hours later to say their neighbors' apartment had caught fire and three were dead, he said.“It hurt our whole town,” he said.Lockport residents “are not familiar with those things happening in our community,” Lockport Police Chief Warren Vedros said. Since the killings, people in Lockport have reminded each other not to take each day for granted and to tell family and friends how much they love them, Vedros said.Hebert said he wanted to thank Vedros for extra police patrols placed near their apartment complex after the killings.Community members are hoping to sell wristbands to raise money for a memorial in Lockport Bayouside Park for the victims, Hebert said. He said he would have details about how to purchase a wristband in the future.Jacquelin Nieves was “the sweetest girl” and a great mother, said Joshua Roby, 32, who also continues to live in the apartment complex since the killings and is close to her brothers.“This is disgusting,” he said of Brown's alleged murders and rapes. “I know there are people in the world like that, but I would never think it would happen in Lockport. ... Jacquelin was a beautiful girl with a beautiful heart. This shouldn't have happened.”Although he still cannot bond out of jail, Brown's bond has been increased to $3.31 million. He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder because Carlos Nieves Jr. was in the house when Brown allegedly set the fire, two counts of aggravated rape and one count of aggravated arson, Lafourche sheriff's officials said.Brown is the brother of Jason Brown, who was convicted of murder in Terrebonne Parish. The former Chauvin tugboat captain is serving a life sentence for shooting his friend to death three days after Hurricane Gustav made landfall.Another brother, John Brown, is serving a prison sentence, scheduled to end in 2014, for a purse-snatching.Webre said David Brown has been arrested “nearly every year of his life since he was a juvenile.” Charges included battery, assault and terrorizing.When he was 18, he was charged with attempted second-degree murder, which was later reduced to an aggravated battery charge.He was released from prison on a theft conviction nine days before Jacquelin Nieves and her children were killed.

Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.